Dental Directories: Local SEO for Dentists, Dental Websites (2018)

Image via ADA / Find-a-dentist: https://findadentist.ada.org

Bipper Media is a global leader in local SEO for dentists.  We can help your dental practice get found first in Google local search / Google Maps, increase phone calls, and drive new patients into your dental practice to grow your business.  Get a free diagnosis for your dental practice now.

Best Dental Directories

Below is a list of some of the most authoritative directories for dentists on the web.  Including your dental practice in these directories can help you build substantial amounts location authority, which in turn will help you get found faster for dentists near me related searches in Google.

Citations for Dentist

It’s no secret that Google is the primary way people search for dentists in their area.  Whether it’s a branded search where people use Google to search for directions to their dentist, or a discovery search (non-branded) where people are searching for the best dentist in their market, the growth for dental practice related searches is growing exponentially.

If you want to rank in the top local search results for your dental practice, publishing the best dentist citations for your practice will be key.  A citation for your dental practice will consist of the following data points:

• Dental practice name
• Exact match street address using your Google My Business as the base
• Relevance & authority of the citation endpoints (i.e. the dental practice directories where your publish your citations)

Getting exact match citations published in dental directories, both volume and authority, will help your dental practice get found quickly in Google local search.  This is critically important for your dental practice considering the exponential growth rate of dentist near me and other local dentist related searches that are happening in Google.

Dentist Near Me Searches

Check out this graph showing the growth of dentists near me searches since 2012:

As you can see, dentists near me searches are growing fast, especially since 2016.

Near me related searches are evidence that people not only want to find the best dentist for their needs, but they want a dentist who’s close by.  This of course goes beyond just the dental market, as more people to Google to find all types of local businesses near me.   

One interesting study by Google shows that near me searches have grown so much in popularity, that the “near me” portion is now being left out as people are expecting to find dentists near me by simply typing in the term “dentists”.

As Google states in their research,

Over the last two years, comparable searches without “near me” have grown by 150%.

How to get your dental practice found for dentists near me related searches

The answer to this question points directly to local SEO, which is the method and strategy for ranking local businesses in Google local / Google Maps search results.

An important point considering that nearly 60% of of all searches in Google are now made from mobile devices, and one third of mobile searches are location based queries.

Without going into every details related to local SEO for dentists, one of the best ways for dental practices to improve their rankings in Google Maps is the use of dental directories.

3 Ways Google determines local rankings for dentists

This is true for any business category, but there are 3 key indicators that Google uses to determine the ranking position in Google local / Google Maps for dentists:

1. Relevance
2. Distance
3. Prominence

Distance is a factor that you can’t really control because your dental practice location is what it is.  So your location authority will naturally favor the geographic area in proximity to your dental practice address.

Relevance and prominence, however, are two factors that you can directly influence.  And more you increase your dental practice’s relevance and prominence, the higher you’ll rank for dentists near me and other locally relevant searches.

One of the best ways to influence relevance and prominence for your dental practice is through the use of directories for dentists.

There’s a lot of directories out there that carry substantial amounts of authority such as the Yahoo Business Directory.  However, directories like that are made up of thousands of business categories, including dentists.

To drill down and increase the relevance and prominence of your dental practice, we recommend complementing these authoritative directories (such as Yahoo Business Directory) with niche directories that are made specifically for dentists.

Below is a list of some of the most authoritative directories for dentists on the web.  Including your dental practice in these directories can help you build substantial amounts location authority, which in turn will help you get found faster for dentists near me related searches in Google.

We’ll continue to build out the dentist directory resource above as find more relevant and authoritative directories to list.

Along with getting your dental practice listed in these relevant directories, it’s equally important to maintain consistency of your local business citation which consists of your dental practice name, address, phone number, and dental practice website.

Learn more about How To Build Citations to Improve Your Google Local Rankings.